Amid overcrowding, Kentucky to reopen private prison

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP/WTVQ) – Kentucky is getting back into the private prison business.

State officials have signed a contract with CoreCivic to reopen the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville. The prison will house about 800 inmates currently housed at the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange.

CoreCivic is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and was previously known as Corrections Corporation of America. It once operated three prisons in Kentucky. But state officials closed the last of its private prisons in 2013 following years of problems, including allegations of sexual abuse and a prison riot in 2004.

The contract will cost taxpayers about $16.8 million a year. Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary John Tilley said that cost would be offset by the savings from closing much of the 80-year-old Kentucky State Reformatory.

After the announcement, Kate Miller, ACLU of Kentucky Advocacy Director, had this comment:

“There’s no question Kentucky has to do something about overcrowding in jails. In the face of this challenge, the Justice & Public Safety Cabinet is now reopening one of Kentucky’s private prisons, with a warning that projections show more spending on private prisons will be necessary unless the General Assembly adopts justice reforms in 2018. We urge lawmakers to move swiftly to adopt research-based, proven strategies that will reduce jail time for low-risk, nonviolent offenders and reform outdated mandatory minimum policies that have pushed the corrections budget and inmate population off the charts. We’re moving back to a system of private corrections that didn’t work in the Commonwealth because inmates were abused and resources mismanaged. While the Department of Corrections is promising stricter terms in their contract with CoreCivic, we encourage rigorous public oversight of their operations.”